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Al Aloon Sultanate
The Al Aloon empire is a powerful economic and political state stretching across the whole of the Zohar dessert, east towards Tiphrates river and the ancestral home of Janaweed and Magyar peoples, both of whom have sworn fealty to the Al Aloon empire. The massive Tiphrates river also forms the eastern border of the empire, the other side beginning the Rhovesian highlands. It also owns lands north of the Zohar desert, though that area is seldom visited by traders or explorers. Cartographers argue that the land goes from temperate savannahs to cold broken hills lands, populated by tribes of man and orcs who live in conflict with each other. So travelers have said the North wind rushes are heavily forested, others heavily grassed. Al Aloon hasn't bothered to check, using that territory as a place to send way word member of the Ummayid family who might be problematic in a more economically important area. History The Aloon people have lived on the southern coastline of the Zohar desert for at least 2,000 years having recorded trade with the Mohinderi empire, and even more ancient records recalling trade with a now gone Elven empire called Melchoria. In that time Al Aloon has generally been ruled by the Ummayid sultanate, though conflicts have arisen for holding the throne with both the Abbayid and Aliyeed families vying for the throne. The empire began as a city-state at Abu Seleem and began to slowly expand using a combination of military power and favorable trade relationships. Unlike other imperial powers, Al Aloon aggressively tries to convert people to the empire's ways. This is done through a combination of religious tolerance, incorporation of other culture's secular festivals. Sultan Ahmet ibn Isaacos Al Ummayid some 800 years ago also laid down a rudimentary form of public education, the costs being subsidized by the various cities' ruling houses treasury. This, coupled with the fact that all transactions and legal decisions must be written in the Aloon language, has led to a strong sense of cultural assimilation. Leading many different tribes of humans to identify themselves first as Aloon then as their own cultural trait. The Aloon encourage this and are encouraged to treat al Aloon regardless as members of the Ummah, or their own community. Politics The Empire has a more distributed power structure than similar empires like Rhovesia. Individual families which are patrimonial in terms of inheritance rule over various cities, and via their daughters are married into the overarching family. While these families are ostensibly equal, in reality their is an ad hoc decision making of the most influential family members to determine who actually rules a city. Once that decision is made, the candidate is submitted to the Sultan, who must allow the post. Historically, Sultans usually accept these positions, or will distribute them to a post of equal importance, but civil conflicts have happened over a noble families' beliefs that they were wrongly denied political power. Due to this distributive model, the Sultan can more efficiently operate his kingdom and avoid popular uprisings by simply holding the offending noble accountable. By employing his own family members in this way, he can leverage the combined power of many city-states to cow a rebelling state. While twice Aloon civil wars have occured with wide spread damage, in the last 300 years the Sultans of Ummayid family have been careful to involve almost as influential families. This also leads to a sort of courting, voting, political system which avoids bad rulers, and rewards families for their loyalty, and their efficiency in service. Subsequently, Aloon cities are very politically self-sufficient as the ruling emirs are always trying to increase their reputation with the Sultans. Currently the largest "tribes" or families in political power are as follows: Ummayid Abbayid Aliyeed Kushrahi Qassam Sauhadi Ayeshi Mookmud Hezholli Economics: The Aloon Empire is famed for their production of ink, writing implements, engineers, and perfumes. Their emphasis on science and technology has made them one of the first empires to establish solid trade reltationships with two Dwarven cities beneath their imperial holdings, and one of the first cultures to adopt gunpowder, vulcanized steal, and rudimentary gas lighting and heating. With the expansion of their colonial holdings, their river lands, and Northwind Reeches produce more than enough food for the empire, and the Aloon have shown themselves to be excellent sheep and cattle herders. In the modern day the Aloon are known as shrewd buisness men, skilled engineers, accepting cosmopolitan people, and tolerant of foreigners or new people in their lands. That being said, they are also understood to be conniving, manipulative, and ruthless in carrying out their political ends. This intrigue often intimidates would be investors, but those who can navigate the political waters usually do very well. As was discussed above, all contracts, and negotiations must legally be in Al Aloon, this has led many traders to try to learn to read and write the language, as contracts can often be quite complicated. Culture The Aloon empire practices a broad form of cultural tolerance wherein the various customs for food, dress, holidays, and religions are accepted and often adopted by the local state. The "official" religion of the empire is the practice of Alrriah Almuqaddasa or the Holy Winds. Essentially, the Aloon believe that each of the four winds represents all of reality and since the wind blows on all men, and without the winds a man dies, the winds do not require worship, but instead individuals can anger or ask the wind for aid. Precisely what is assigned to each wind varies by city and cultural group. But the winds are: Kedem: The East wind is often associated with agriculture, family, hearth, love, passions, and similar family oriented qualities Simal: The North wind is often associated with elders, death, war, concentration, meditation, overcoming obstacles, and dealing with difficulties in life. Janub: The South wind is often associated with trade, adulthood, negotiations, trickery, entertainment, and trades Dabur: The West Wind is often associated with science, magic, technology, creativity, new discoveries, adventuring, writing, poetrys, and similar acts of creativity and new discoveries. Category:Countries